Organic Consumers Association - All About Organicshttps://www.organicconsumers.org/organlink
Organic Consumers Association Campaigns, Essays, Headlines, Action Alerts, Downloads and Videos on Organic Food.
Organic food is pure food. It's safer, more nutritious and free of chemical additives. Organic crops are grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers and organic livestock are raised without antibiotics, growth hormones or other drugs. Organic food isn't genetically modified or irradiated.enRegenerative Agriculture Can Make Farmers Stewards of the Land Againhttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-land-again
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Stephanie Anderson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Kiowa County Press</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 12, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://kiowacountypress.net/content/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-land-again</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57476" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/range1200x630png">range_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/range.png?itok=ODedLmZq" width="400" height="210" alt="Range." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>For years, "sustainable" has been the buzzword in conversations about agriculture. If farmers and ranchers could slow or stop further damage to land and water, the thinking went, that was good enough. I thought that way too, until I started writing my new book, "<a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496205056/" target="_blank">One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture</a>."</p><p>I grew up on a cattle ranch in western South Dakota and once worked as an agricultural journalist. For me, agriculture is more than a topic - it is who I am. When I began working on my book, I thought I would be writing about sustainability as a response to the environmental damage caused by conventional agriculture - farming that is industrial and heavily reliant on oil and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/agrochemical" target="_blank">agrochemicals</a>, such as pesticides and fertilizers.</p><p>But through research and interviews with farmers and ranchers around the United States, I discovered that sustainability's "give back what you take" approach, which usually just maintains or marginally improves resources already degraded by generations of conventional agriculture, does not adequately address the biggest long-term challenge farmers face: climate change.</p></div></div></div>Fri, 15 Feb 2019 05:35:00 +0000Fin1063041 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgBuy Organic Food to Help Curb Global Insect Collapse, Say Scientistshttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/buy-organic-food-help-curb-global-insect-collapse-say-scientists
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/genetic-engineering">Genetic Engineering</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Damian Carrington</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Guardian</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 13, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/13/buy-organic-food-to-help-curb-global-insect-collapse-say-scientists</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57461" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/ofood1200x630png">ofood_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/ofood.png?itok=JRQtswNm" width="400" height="210" alt="Vegetables." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><strong><em>Urging political action on pesticide use is another way to help stem ‘collapse of nature’</em></strong></p><p>Buying organic food is among the actions people can take to curb the global decline in insects, according to leading scientists. Urging political action to slash pesticide use on conventional farms is another, say environmentalists.</p><p>Intensive agriculture and heavy pesticide use are a major cause of plummeting insect populations, according to the first global review, <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature" target="_blank">revealed by the Guardian on Monday</a>. The vanishing of insects threatens a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, the review concluded, because of their fundamental importance in the food chain, pollination and soil health.</p><p>“It is definitely an emergency,” said Prof Axel Hochkirch, who leads on insects for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature,the global authority on the status of the natural world. “This is a real, global, dramatic problem.”</p><p>“If you buy organic food, you make sure the land is used less intensively,” he said.</p></div></div></div>Fri, 15 Feb 2019 05:22:00 +0000Fin1063026 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgThese Probiotics for Plants Help Farms Suck Up Extra Carbon Dioxidehttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/these-probiotics-plants-help-farms-suck-extra-carbon-dioxide
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Adele Peters</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Fast Company</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 7, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://www.fastcompany.com/90303108/these-probiotics-for-plants-help-farms-suck-up-extra-carbon-dioxide</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57326" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/oranges1200x630png">oranges_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/oranges.png?itok=H6iyFNEp" width="400" height="210" alt="Oranges." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em><strong>A mix of fungi and bacteria added to the soil makes agriculture more productive–and helps stop climate change.</strong></em></p><p>On thousands of acres of orange groves in Florida, farmers are adding beneficial fungi and bacteria to the soil, which makes the oranges grow bigger and sweeter–and makes the soil suck up enough extra CO2 so that each acre offsets the emissions from a passenger car. Call it probiotics for soil.</p><p>“Agricultural soils are one of the world’s largest carbon sinks,” says Paul Zorner, CEO of <a href="https://locusag.com/" target="_blank">Locus Agricultural Solutions</a>, the startup that makes the particular combination of probiotics in use on the farms. “If they’re treated right, you’re going to absorb a lot of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.”</p><p>Unlike the ocean, which has absorbed the brunt of human emissions so far–becoming more acidic and hotter and threatening marine life as that happens–soil can benefit from extra carbon. “Soil is the exact opposite,” Zorner says.</p></div></div></div>Mon, 11 Feb 2019 14:43:00 +0000Fin1062911 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgWhy We Can't Separate Justice and Sustainability in the Food Systemhttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/why-we-cant-separate-justice-and-sustainability-food-system
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/categories/fair-trade-social-justice">Fair Trade &amp; Social Justice</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rafter Ferguson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Union of Concerned Scientists</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 31, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-53301" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/permaculture1200x630png">permaculture_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/permaculture.png?itok=ltSmYMZB" width="400" height="210" alt="Woman farmer." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Most of us wish we could eat with the confidence that everything on our plate has a story we can feel good about, a story about taking care of both people and the environment. In the food system (as elsewhere) these twin issues, justice and sustainability, have often been talked about as if they were unrelated, independent problems with separate solutions.</p><p>This disconnect has consequences. Our understanding of the connections between justice and sustainability shapes our work in the food system and determines our chances of making real progress toward our goals. We know that <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/industrial-agriculture/hidden-costs-of-industrial.html#.XDy4ks9KjOS" target="_blank">industrial agriculture</a>–large-scale, highly mechanized monoculture farming systems making intensive use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers–does not meet these aspirations. We know that the food system with industrial agriculture as its foundation does not protect <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK305182/" target="_blank">the environment</a>, does not protect <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3489137/" target="_blank">human health</a>, and doesn’t produce <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK305175/" target="_blank">enough nutritious food</a> or <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food-agriculture/expand-healthy-food-access/working-toward-more-equitable-food" target="_blank">distribute it equitably</a>. Sustainability and justice are connected, in part, because injustice and environmental degradation are connected. And if we don’t see the connections between the problems, we’re unlikely to see how the solutions must be integrated.</p><p>This disconnect has been on my mind since I became interested in sustainable agriculture in the early 2000s. It was then I started to find a lack of conversations that fully integrated concerns with treating people fairly and the earth gently. I got so curious about these missing connections that I eventually went back to school and became a political agroecologist. If you’re wondering what the heck that is, you’re not alone! It boils down to this: I study sustainability and justice in the food system. Of necessity, my training and my research have been very cross-disciplinary, incorporating agronomy, ecology, and social sciences. It’s a challenging, rewarding, and occasionally crazy-making arena to work in.</p><p>And a few months ago I came to work at UCS, because it’s a place where I can continue working toward a food system that takes care of people and the earth. And while we’ve seen increasing understanding in recent years that treating people well is closely intertwined with treating the earth well, there is still a lot of work to do.</p><p><strong>Two problems with one painful history</strong></p><p>In fact, injustice in the food system has always had implications for sustainability. The rise of industrial agriculture is not just a story of technological change. It is that, and it’s also inextricable from a long and grim history of theft and violence. I’ll trace the outlines of some of these connections here.</p><p>The story of our country’s origins is full of both heroic struggles and unspeakable atrocities, side by side. Like many others, I’m still working to understand the full import and legacy of those atrocities–chief among them, colonization and slavery. Something that’s easy to miss is how the story of their terrible human toll is also a story of changing land use. The Europeans who colonized North America stole land from a tremendous diversity of peoples and communities, each with their own sophisticated understanding of how to grow food and manage landscapes that, with few exceptions, allowed them to provide for their needs without degrading the soils, rivers, and forests on which they depended.</p><p>When colonists displaced indigenous communities, they also replaced indigenous land management with European agriculture–notably, wholesale clearing of forest followed by intensive use of the plow. While the indigenous Wampanoag people kept early colonists in the northeast from starving by generously sharing their own <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2016/11/pilgrims-no-idea-farm-luckily-native-americans/" target="_blank">locally-adapted crops and techniques</a>, colonists would integrate these practices into their own approach to farming and launch a process of unprecedented <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0072540" target="_blank">deforestation</a>, soil degradation, and <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/43/2/171/131810" target="_blank">soil erosion</a>. Plugged into the international trade of the emerging capitalist economy, profits from these destructive practices would in turn drive the ongoing seizure of land and violent removal of the indigenous inhabitants.</p><p>Beginning in the 1600s, this ongoing expansion was powered by forced labor: first with indentured servants from Europe, then increasingly with the labor of enslaved African people. The production of commodity crops such as wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton spread through the 1800s as <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/maps-reveal-slavery-expanded-across-united-states-180951452/" target="_blank">the influx of slave labor</a> multiplied the profits of plantation owners and merchants. Following the abolition of slavery in 1865, sharecropping kept profits flowing while prolonging the servitude of many formerly enslaved people. At the same time, the footprint of colonial agriculture spread west along with a flood of settlers, enabled by the violent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal" target="_blank">displacement of indigenous people</a>, and extending the footprint of destructive agricultural practices.</p><p><strong>More machines, fewer (and whiter) farmers</strong></p><p>Sustainability, of course, is relative, and the environmental impacts of pre- and early 20th century agriculture can sometimes seem almost idyllic in retrospect. Since larger and more mechanized farms require fewer and fewer farmers, the rise of industrial agriculture is also the story of the depopulation of the farming sector. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3030355" target="_blank">Government policies favoring larger farms enabled decades of consolidation,</a>forcing out small and medium-sized farmers who found it impossible to compete with the emerging well-subsidized industrial farms.</p><p>The pressures of consolidation have fallen heavily across all small- and medium-sized farms, but racism and sexism throw more and higher barriers in the path of farmers who aren’t white and male. In addition to the many hurdles created by interpersonal discrimination, racism and sexism have often been expressed <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3030355" target="_blank">through the very institutions intended to support farmers</a>. Institutional racism and sexism at the USDA have long made it harder for black, Hispanic, indigenous, and women farmers to access the resources and support vital to the survival of smaller farms, as shown in a <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_015583.pdf" target="_blank">series of successful class action lawsuits</a> in the 1990s and 2000s. The slow <a href="https://www.landloss.org/" target="_blank">pace of reform</a> to antiquated <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/whatyouneedtoknowheirproperty.pdf">property laws</a> that disproportionately affect the descendants of enslaved African people has helped drive massive <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/african-americans-have-lost-acres/" target="_blank">land loss in the black community</a> throughout the 20th century.</p><p><strong>Optimized, streamlined, and decimated</strong></p><p>The sum of all these pressures has left us with a depopulated farming sector dominated by industrial agriculture. As a result, diverse mosaics of annual and perennial crops and wild plants have been replaced with large uniform blocks of homogenous annual crops, the soil pummeled through the growing season with heavy plowing, fertilizers, and pesticides, then left bare and exposed to the elements through the cold season. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00782.x" target="_blank">As wild landscapes and biologically diverse agriculture disappear</a>, so do the critical environmental services on which <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2010.0143" target="_blank">agriculture</a> <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss4/art40/" target="_blank">and all of us</a> depend: water filtration, wildlife habitat, flood mitigation, and carbon sequestration, among others.</p><p>And while I’m focusing on the agricultural end of the food system, the linkages between sustainability and justice are present throughout the <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/karen-perry-stillerman/the-midwests-food-system-is-failing-heres-why" target="_blank">food system</a>. While displacing forms of agriculture, we’ve also displaced food cultures—of distribution, preparation, and consumption. The systematic segregation of poor communities and communities of color from affluent and white communities creates the conditions for a literal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-apartheid-food-deserts-racism-inequality-america-karen-washington-interview" target="_blank">food apartheid</a>: fresh and minimally processed foods are sold at high prices for select markets that are geographically and economically inaccessible for the marginalized communities, who in turn provide a captive market for the highly processed and refined products of industrial agriculture. These apartheid conditions, the attendant loss of culinary and nutritional knowledge, and the staggering rise of diet-related health problems, are all symptoms of a food system designed for profit rather than care.</p><p><strong>We need everyone at the table</strong></p><p>As the problems are related, so are the solutions—and our strategies must reflect that. First and foremost, let’s do away with the idea that anyone could build a sustainable food system without centering social justice in the process. Only a broad and deeply inclusive coalition will bring enough of us together to marshal the kind of political power needed to change the status quo. Only a movement that acknowledges these legacies and prioritizes the voices of those who’ve been marginalized in the current food system will be able to assemble such a coalition.</p><p>Furthermore, only such broad and deep coalition will give us the insight and depth of perspective we need to create truly workable solutions. When people are left out of shaping the solutions to the problems they face, the solutions fail. To make a new food system we need everyone at the table.</p><p><strong>Sustainability without justice… isn’t </strong></p><p>There is good reason to doubt that a food system that is environmentally righteous but unjust could be anything more than a passing fantasy. The most ecologically elegant food system that <em><a href="https://www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/1117-the-environmental-cost-of-inequality" target="_blank">leaves people out</a></em> is just creating the building blocks for a new round of environmental harm. What are those building blocks? I’ll give some examples below, and follow each with a question that invites us to imagine an alternative—to imagine the consequences of not leaving anyone out.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">• Workers who have no choice but to sell their labor to destructive and extractive industries.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>What would farming look like if every farmworker had alternatives, and the political capital to refuse to be exposed to dangerous pesticides?</em></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">• Customers who have no options but to buy the cheapest food.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>What would happen to the market for unhealthy processed foods if everyone had access to fresh and healthy whole foods, throughout their lives?</em></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">• Communities who can’t defend themselves against the toxic byproducts and other consequences of industrial agriculture.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>How could polluting industries continue if they had nowhere to pollute—i.e. if every community had the clout to refuse and reject the byproducts of those industries? </em> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">• Farmers who can’t afford to stay on their land.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>How would industrial farms acquire land and undercut competition without the policies that favor them at every step—i.e., if all farmers received the support that they needed?</em></p><ul></ul><p>In short, an unsustainable food system requires a steady supply of people without options. We all need a food system that creates options for people, and doesn’t leave anyone out, in order to ensure real and lasting sustainability.</p><p>How do we do that? Luckily, there is nothing that needs to be invented from scratch. Some of us are already doing it—and if you are, <em>thank you</em>. For those of us just finding our way to this work, our job is to seek out the farmers, activists, and entrepreneurs on the front lines of the struggle to remake the food system, and learn from them. Our job is to center the perspectives of communities who’ve been pushed to the margins of the food system, and to lift up the voices of people on the front lines: people of color, indigenous people, small farmers, farmworkers, and workers from all across the food system. Many of us will not have to look very far—the front lines may run through our own communities or our own backyards. For those who, like me, have never had to face the daily struggle of poverty, or have never been targeted by white supremacy—we will have to work harder and look farther to do the vital listening and learning that’s needed. It’s worth doing.</p><p>Then it’s just a matter of get in <em>where you fit in</em>. Transforming the food system requires work on many fronts: <a href="http://www.blackfoodjustice.org/" target="_blank">organizing</a> <a href="http://foodchainworkers.org/" target="_blank">workers</a> and <a href="http://www.blackmesawatercoalition.org/" target="_blank">communities</a>, <a href="https://laborrights.org/" target="_blank">political</a> <a href="https://www.realfoodchallenge.org/" target="_blank">campaigning</a>, <a href="https://competitivemarkets.com/" target="_blank">lobbying</a> <a href="https://www.farmworkerjustice.org/" target="_blank">lawmakers</a>, <a href="http://agroecologyresearchaction.org/" target="_blank">research</a> and <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2015/09/twenty-two-educational-programs-changing-the-food-system/">education</a>, along with the central, core work of growing, distributing, and preparing food—just to name a few! For us here at UCS, we work to learn from our grassroots <a href="https://goodfoodforallsite.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">coalition</a> <a href="https://healfoodalliance.org/" target="_blank">partners</a> through ongoing dialogue, in order to shape and re-shape our research, analysis, and advocacy. There is no shortage of ways to get involved or work to do.</p><p>On whatever front we work for food system change, we are called to stay conscious of the inseparability of sustainability and justice—in our history, in the present, and in our strategies for transformation.</p><p><em>Posted with permission by <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/rafter-ferguson/why-we-cant-separate-justice-and-sustainability-in-the-food-system" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.</em></p></div></div></div>Sun, 10 Feb 2019 02:11:00 +0000Fin1062901 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgWhat the Green New Deal Means for the Food on Your Platehttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/what-green-new-deal-means-food-your-plate
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Christopher D. Cook</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Civil Eats</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 7, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://civileats.com/2019/02/07/what-the-green-new-deal-has-to-say-about-sustainable-agriculture/</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57311" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/foodplate1200x630png">foodplate_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/foodplate.png?itok=9XBUX-dt" width="400" height="210" alt="Food." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em><strong>The long-awaited policy proposal from Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey has finally surfaced—and it aims to turn U.S. agriculture into a positive force for climate change and social justice.</strong></em></p><p>Today, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) <a href="https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=5729033-Green-New-Deal-FINAL" target="_blank">released their much-anticipated Green New Deal</a> with the goal of creating millions of jobs by expanding renewable energy and de-carbonizing the economy over the next 10 years.</p><p>It’s a sweeping attempt to reorient energy production and shift public resources in an urgent bid to make the U.S. carbon-neutral by 2030. And it comes at a crucial moment, as dire scientific evidence shows the world needs to act fast over the next 12 years to avert the worst impacts of climate change.</p><p>Food and agriculture, which is responsible for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank">9 percent</a> of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, is included in several aspects of the 14-page House Resolution released by Ocasio-Cortez today.</p></div></div></div>Sat, 09 Feb 2019 02:45:00 +0000Fin1062896 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgBold Farm Plans in Mexico Offer a Ray of Hope in 2019https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/bold-farm-plans-mexico-offer-ray-hope-2019
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/genetic-engineering">Genetic Engineering</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Karen Hansen-Kuhn</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Institute for Agriculture &amp; Trade Policy</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 15, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://www.iatp.org/blog/201901/bold-farm-plans-mexico-offer-ray-hope-2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57236" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/farm1200x630png-0">farm_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/farm_2.png?itok=P97gbYeb" width="400" height="210" alt="Farm." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As many in the United States agriculture community breathed a sigh of relief that the recently passed Farm Bill isn’t as bad as it could be, our neighbors to the south are moving forward quickly and decisively with bold new plans to transform their food and farm system.</p><p>Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador took office on December 1 with an <a href="https://www.gob.mx/presidencia/articulos/discurso-de-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-presidente-de-los-estados-unidos-mexicanos?idiom=es" target="_blank">inaugural address outlining 100 promises</a> for the transformation of the country’s government and economy. The plans include pledges to root out corruption and wasteful spending and to push forward quickly on new programs and reforms promised during his campaign. A month into his term, López Obrador had already fulfilled his commitment to hold a public referendum on the construction of a controversial new airport and canceled those plans as a result. And, efforts are well underway on a bold new initiative to transform Mexican agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency in basic grains and enhance the livelihoods of family farmers and their communities.</p></div></div></div>Thu, 07 Feb 2019 03:15:00 +0000Fin1062856 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgVictory! Ag Agency's Efforts to Eliminate Pesticide Reporting Requirements Stopped (For Now)https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/victory-ag-agencys-efforts-eliminate-pesticide-reporting-requirements-stopped-now
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Regeneration Vermont</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 6, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://regenerationvermont.org/victory-ag-agencys-efforts-to-eliminate-pesticide-reporting-requirements-stopped-for-now/</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57186" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/tractorfieldfarmspraycrop1200x630jpg">tractor_field_farm_spray_crop_1200x630.jpg</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/tractor_field_farm_spray_crop_1200x630.jpg?itok=9m7oXAQv" width="400" height="210" alt="large tractor spraying crops in a farm field" /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Editor's note: Organic Consumers Association partially funds Regeneration Vermont.</em></p><p>Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture took what some legislators are calling “a sneaky route” in its attempts to eliminate the pesticide-usage progress reports that are required to be filed annually by the state’s Pesticide Advisory Council (VPAC).</p><p>Tucked deep in an omnibus bill addressing the viability of commissions and councils like VPAC (H.16), the Ag Agency successfully lobbied to insert language that did away with VPAC’s obligation to issue annual progress reports “with respect to the State goal of achieving an overall reduction in the use of pesticides.”</p><p>Regeneration Vermont was alerted about the effort by several lawmakers and, thereafter, filed a series of records requests from the Ag Agency and legislative committees to learn more about this underhanded effort to stymie the public’s right to know. Moreover, we issued an Action Alert to encourage the public to sound off to their legislators on the matter.</p><p>The good news — for now — is that the House Government Operations Committee took note of the public’s concerns and removed the Ag Agency’s recommended neutering of VPAC in H.16. But the bad news is that the Ag Agency is still dragging its regulatory feet and claiming that, despite the law mandating the pesticide reporting, it doesn’t have the staff or technical prowess to compile the pesticide usage data VPAC needs to do its assessments and progress reports.</p><p>The Secretary of the Ag Agency, currently Anson Tebbetts, is required to compile annual pesticide usage data and make it available to the public and VPAC, which is also supposed to use that data in its assessments of the pesticide use applications that it oversees. <a href="https://agriculture.vermont.gov/public-health-agricultural-resource-management-division/pesticide-programs/pesticide-usage-reported" target="_blank">But neither Tebbetts nor his predecessor, Chuck Ross, has made this data available since 2013.</a></p><p>While keeping the public in the dark about pesticide usage patterns is one level of inappropriate, particularly with greater concerns about water contamination from the abundant use of these toxins, it’s nothing short of regulatory malpractice for VPAC to be making pesticide usage decisions without having access to this basic data.</p><p>In essence, VPAC has been flying blind while assessing the dozens of pesticide applications that have come before it since 2013. Worse, without the data informing them of usage trends, VPAC can’t fulfill its own obligations to reduce pesticide use or report on its progress. And it’s all because the Secretary of Agriculture is not fulfilling his responsibilities or following the law.</p><p>This five-year gap in pesticide-usage reporting is becoming increasingly problematic for Secretary Tebbetts, who also took two years to fill vacant “public advocate” seats on VPAC. His agency is also under increased scrutiny for “looking away” when it comes to other industrial-farm-related issues, particularly farm runoff, water quality, and antibiotic residues – both in the manure and in the farm products.</p><p>But instead of figuring out a way to meet the pesticide-reporting obligations that Agency officials had no problem meeting until 2013, Tebbetts dispatched his second in command, Deputy Secretary Diane Bothfeld, to legislatively torpedo the requirements.</p><p>Bothfeld used the Sunset Advisory Commission to get the job done, a legislatively mandated group charged with reviewing the efficacy of the more than 200 state-sanctioned commissions, task forces and panels. It’s mostly a task of weeding out the obsolete, and it’s usually about whether to “keep or kill” the panels in review.</p><p>In late November, Bothfeld testified before the Sunset Commission about the panels under the purview of the Ag Agency. While she did recommend doing away with the Sustainable Agriculture Council, Bothfeld decided to use the opportunity to amend the statutes that define and empower VPAC and the Milk Commission. And, in both cases, Bothfeld recommended to weaken reporting requirements.</p><p>RegenVt obtained the materials Bothfeld submitted to the Sunset Commission with her testimony and recommendations. In the questionnaire regarding VPAC, Bothfeld reported that, “In statute, there a (sic) requirement for a overview annual report, but it has not been done in at least a decade.”</p><p>Instead of seeking to correct VPAC’s failure to provide an annual assessment for “at least a decade,” Bothfeld sought to reward its obdurate behavior by striking the obligation it’s been ignoring from the statutes. And Bothfeld’s recommendations made it into the Sunset Commission’s proposed legislation, H.16.</p><p>Bothfeld and the Ag Agency’s attempts to rewrite the statutes in an effort to accommodate the VPAC’s unwillingness to inform the public and meet its obligations also undercut the legislative intent behind VPAC’s original formulation and empowerment. Again, there is no ambiguity with VPAC’s mission: To collect and assess pesticide usage data so as to inform the legislature, relevant agencies, and the public about the threats from these toxins, and to develop strategies to reduce pesticide use.</p><p>The bill – H.16 – was assigned to the House Operations Committee at the start of the legislative session in early January, which flagged the gutting of VPAC’s reporting obligations in its legislative summary, and ordered that “the committees of jurisdiction should be made aware of this proposed change in reporting.”</p><p>And here’s where the story ends, for now. As the next stop for H.16 was the House Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Rep. Amy Sheldon, who took testimony on the bill, listened to the public’s serious concerns about the VPAC gutting, and struck the Ag Agency’s proposed language from the bill, thus maintaining its reporting obligations.</p><p>While this victory to maintain a very precarious status quo was important, the bigger battle over enforcing pesticide data collection and assessment remains. This effort to undercut the public’s right to know by the Ag Agency should be yet another warning to Vermonters that this agency remains captured and controlled by industrial agricultural interests, thus far too willing to bend the rules in favor of its threatening practices.</p><p>Which is to say, we must remain vigilant. As such, we encourage all Vermonters to continue to contact their legislators and demand that they do what they can to enforce the rules on pesticide reporting, strengthen efforts to inform the public, and keep panel’s like VPAC true to its mission and obligations.</p><p><em>Posted with permission from <a href="https://regenerationvermont.org/victory-ag-agencys-efforts-to-eliminate-pesticide-reporting-requirements-stopped-for-now/" target="_blank">Regeneration Vermont</a>.</em></p></div></div></div>Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:03:00 +0000Pam1062801 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgFarmers Can Heal the Environment and Prosper With the 'Green New Deal'https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/farmers-can-heal-environment-and-prosper-green-new-deal
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Robert Leonard</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Kansas City Star</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 1, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article225404310.html</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57126" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/heal1200x630png">heal_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/heal.png?itok=AEsWagu4" width="400" height="210" alt="Gardening." /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It’s been a tough year for farmers here in Iowa and across much of America. After several years of low commodity prices, President Donald Trump’s tariffs and government shutdown have rocked the markets. </p><p>Only the largest of operations are making any money. Land prices are down, farm real estate listings are up, younger farmers are looking bankruptcy in the face and older farmers are saying they’ve had enough, and retiring. To share just one significant number, hog operations are losing $18 a hog. </p><p>A new survey of bankers in 10 Plains and Western states tells us the regional rural economy is shrinking, a casualty of Trump’s “tariffs and low commodity prices.”</p><p>One sobering observation is that dairy organizations are publishing suicide hotline numbers.</p><p>Trump trade representative Robert Lighthizer, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” last December, <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/694442e3d47f753ebca3558d48618700c23c3ab4?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrownfieldagnews.com%2Fnews%2Fnew-developments-in-trade-war-saga%2F&amp;userId=1889105&amp;signature=55735431fc7c5715" target="_blank">said</a> he considers March 1 “a hard deadline” to reach a trade deal with China.</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new2 field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Source Author 2:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Matt Russell</div></div></div>Sun, 03 Feb 2019 15:04:00 +0000Fin1062746 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgHow Via Organica Is Helping Local Vendors and Farmers Thrivehttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/how-organica-helping-local-vendors-and-farmers-thrive
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/fair-trade-social-justice">Fair Trade &amp; Social Justice</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/categories/oca-news">OCA in the News</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Casey OBrien</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Shareable</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 30, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://www.shareable.net/blog/How-Via-Organica-is-helping-local-vendors-and-farmers-thrive</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57111" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/rosana1200x630png">rosana_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/rosana.png?itok=gMpXgxML" width="400" height="210" alt="Via Organic" /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><footer><p><a href="https://viaorganica.org/" target="_blank">Via Organica</a>, a regenerative farm in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is more than just a place that grows and sells fresh, organic produce to the local community. Rosana Álvarez, the farm's founder, also runs an educational center, restaurant, and store. By centralizing these operations, Álvarez is seeking to improve the livelihoods for local farmers and vendors.</p></footer><p dir="ltr">Álvarez points to the example of a vendor who used to wake up at 4:30 a.m. every morning, take a long bus ride into the city, and walk from house to house selling tortillas. She would often return home at 7-8 p.m. at night, having sold only a few hundred pesos' worth of tortillas — making roughly $10-$20 for a full day's work. But now, Álvarez says, the vendor needs to travel to San Miguel just once per week to deliver tortillas in bulk to Via Organica. And she receives payment up front, Álvarez says. For Álvarez, this model represents a push to better the lives of local food producers and incentivize sustainable agricultural practices.</p></div></div></div>Sun, 03 Feb 2019 14:49:00 +0000Fin1062731 at https://www.organicconsumers.orgIt's Not What You Eat, It's How It's Produced That Mattershttps://www.organicconsumers.org/news/its-not-what-you-eat-its-how-its-produced-matters
<div class="field field-name-field-category-new field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/organlink">All About Organics</a>,&nbsp;</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/environment-and-climate">Environment &amp; Climate</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-author-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Alex Heffron</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-publisher-new field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Medium</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-dateuni-new field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 16, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source-url-new field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">https://medium.com/@AlexHeffron88/its-not-what-you-eat-it-s-how-it-s-produced-that-matters-8b61d0618a52?fbclid=IwAR2ujFvU0vXOJkpjfrP0dwVawanYmzr5MUCFZ0Facle3mQg8BHH8nOtl5lw</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-new field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div id="file-57106" class="file file-image file-image-png" class="file file-image file-image-png">
<h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/bigwheat1200x630png">bigwheat_1200x630.png</a></h2>
<div class="content">
<img src="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/styles/400x300/public/bigwheat.png?itok=D3gC01bG" width="400" height="210" alt="Wheat farming" /> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p id="7a4a" name="7a4a">Few of us really realise that the food we’re eating today is impoverishing the soil and contributing greatly to the tragic and catastrophic loss of biodiversity — we don’t realise because most of us are far removed from the fields that were once rich in topsoil, and are now desert and dust.</p><p id="af2c" name="af2c">This is what needs to change. We need to once again become connected to the food we eat. The real cost of cheap food has been this disconnection from reality.</p><p id="f09d" name="f09d">Food is at the epicentre of the debate about the non-intended consequences of our actions. As a result it’s become an ideological battleground. There are all sorts of tribes within this ideological war, from vegans on one end of the extreme, to paleos on the other. But they’re kind of all missing the point, as far as I can see, though I can see the beginnings of a bigger, more important conversation about farming practice that is starting to develop.</p></div></div></div>Sat, 02 Feb 2019 03:10:00 +0000Fin1062726 at https://www.organicconsumers.org